Latest news with #SanJuanSafaris
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Freebies, discounts and new routes on Washington ferries this summer
Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer, and Washington state's extensive ferry system is ready. Washington State Ferries see double the typical number of riders during the summer months, which the agency calls 'their Superbowl.' If you're one of WSF's 19 million annual riders and plan to use ferries for summer travel, recent changes could have a positive impact on your wait time and wallet. Those changes could cause some short-term cancellations, so it's essential to know alternate routes and how to stay informed. Here are some of the changes that could impact riders this summer. Ferries are returning to nearly full domestic service this summer, nearly three years ahead of schedule. A March 2025 directive from Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson pushed back the planned launch of hybrid electric ferries in favor of restoring full domestic service by summer. 'Since COVID, we have slowly increased service,' said WSF's spokesperson Dana Warr in an interview with McClatchy. 'We have more than 400 sailings a day.' According to WSF, 18 vessels will be added into active service starting in mid-June. Here are some specifics: Seattle/Bremerton route: Two-boat schedule to resume from Sunday, June 15. Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth 'Triangle' route: Pre-pandemic three-boat route schedule will start on Monday, June 30. Port Townsend/Coupeville route: A second vessel will operate on Friday through Monday from July 4 through Oct. 13. San Juan Islands: New summer schedule launching to improve timeliness. Beyond the new service additions, there are several discounts and deals to be aware of on WSF, as well as other regional ferry systems. Free rides WSF allows riders who are 18 and younger to ride for free. Tickets must be obtained at the ferry terminal, not online or at self-serve kiosks, and are good for two hours. Riders also can use an ORCA pass. Drivers under 19 years old must still pay the full adult fare and vehicle fee. The service is part of the state's Move Ahead Washington transportation package, which includes free rides on Amtrak, too. Discounted rides Many customers can get discounts on WSF, including: Reduced fares for the disabled Senior discounts Multi-use passes that lead to savings after a threshold of uses is met You can use the ferry system ticket page to calculate your fare in advance, as prices vary on location and route. Other ferry deals Washington is home to several private, county and island ferry operations, and WSDOT maintains a list of those systems online. A couple that offer deals and discounts include San Juan Safaris and Kitsap Transit Fast Ferries. Wildlife and whale watching tour company San Juan Safaris is partnering with San Juan County to offer free rides to walk-on customers who are traveling between Anacortes and Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. Kitsap Transit Fast Ferries offers reduced fares as well as fare promotion programs like free travel to an attendant on board with a disabled customer. With all of the changes, WSF wants riders to be aware that the new vessels and services are likely to increase the risk of short-term cancellations. Essentially, new services will mean temporary staffing shortages, which could lead to delays for riders in some cases. According to Warr, those delays could be anywhere from 1-3 hours, particularly on heavily-traveled holiday weekends. Other things can lead to delays as well, including impaired customers who drive a vehicle onto the ferry or who cause a disturbance. In fact, a newly-updated policy makes interventions with these types of customers more likely. That could include things like identifying an impaired driver who drove onto the ferry but can't be allowed to drive off, or intervening in a disruption. 'That updated policy empowers staff to make decisions they didn't have the power to make before,' WSF's Warr said, emphasizing that 'ferry crews are not law enforcement.' Those decisions could include things like intervening if a rider becomes disruptive or assisting law enforcement officials on the vessel when the need arises. Even so, Warr notes that they rely on riders to obey the clearly posted signs on boats that list WSF's code of conduct. 'Why start a fight on a ferry?' Warr said. 'There's nowhere to go.' Here are some of WSF's recommendations for riders who want to avoid delays: Text or email alerts: Travel alert bulletins require a free subscription for the service, which is staff-operated from 4:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Overnight alerts are sent on a limited basis. Customer contact center: WSF customer service operates daily from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 206-464-6400 or 888-808-7977 or by email at wsfinfo@ WSDOT app: The WSDOT app includes ferry schedules, real-time maps and service bulletins. Trip planning tools: Update and planning tools include sailing schedules by route, a real-time map with the current position and status of every vessel and terminal, wait time and camera information. Social and traditional media: Automated rider alerts can be found on the WSF website, on WSF's X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky accounts. Social accounts are monitored Monday through Friday from 8 5 p.m. in order to answer customer questions. Highway signs: WSDOT highway operations update messages on the Highway Advisory Radio System and the Variable Message Systems along state routes leading to ferry terminals Ferries weekly newsletter: High-impact situations, vessel and crew updates and upcoming service disruptions are just part of what customers can access in WSF's weekly newsletter. Customers can view each newsletter and subscribe to the Weekly Update online If you're interested in getting involved in the state ferry system's decision-making process for the upcoming busy season, there will be community meetings on both May 20 and 21. You can find more information online, including how to complete required advanced registration.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
Walk-on ferry between Anacortes and San Juans launches on trial basis
A whale watch company with a spare vessel is operating the demonstration of passenger-only ferry service from Anacortes to the San Juan Islands until June 30. (Photo by Tom Banse) This article was first published by the Salish Current. For the next 10 weeks, people can travel to and from the scenic San Juan Islands for free as the archipelago tests the waters of county-run, passenger-only ferry service. State money is paying for a twice-daily roundtrip between the three most populous islands and Anacortes using a chartered whale watching tour boat. The boat trial grew out of frustration with unreliable state ferry service in recent years. But even if the county's walk-on ferry proves popular, it's unclear how it could be sustained. 'Until people in San Juan County feel that they can count on the [state] ferries like they did 10 years ago,' San Juan County Council Chair Kari McVeigh said, 'this is a big deal.' McVeigh rode along on the inaugural round trip between Friday Harbor and downtown Anacortes. The foot ferry made intermediate stops at Orcas Landing and Lopez Island in each direction. McVeigh noted the boat was very punctual, as hoped for. Ridership was light during the opening weekend of service due to the short-notice startup and limited pre-launch publicity. Captain Brian Goodremont steered the 55-foot tour boat Sea Lion across sun-splashed seas at about the same speed as the state ferries – 17 knots – on an unusually warm Good Friday to inaugurate the service. 'I think it is mostly going to be islanders that use this service,' said Goodremont, who owns San Juan Safaris, the contracted passenger-only ferry operator. 'As we get closer to peak season for visitors – once school is out – I can see visitors using it as an alternative.' As part of the same state-funded pilot project, San Juan County also contracted with a different local tour company for emergency interisland water taxi service, which will sail only when the state interisland ferry is expected to be out of service for more than four hours. That standby water taxi contract similarly expires on June 30. In recent weeks, state ferry system leaders have told the public and their overseers in the state Legislature that the car ferries have turned the corner on reliability. Washington State Ferries chief Steve Nevey and his deputy told a state Senate panel last month that crewing is back to pre-pandemic levels and cancellations significantly reduced. 'We're clearly going in the right direction,' deputy John Vezina testified. 'We're clearing the maintenance backlog. We are on the path to building new boats. But it's been tough for our customers and we are aware of that.' The San Juans to Anacortes passenger-only ferry pilot project was designed with the needs of ferry-dependent islanders at the top of mind, but the service should be appealing to visitors from the mainland too. The foot ferry terminates in downtown Anacortes at the Cap Sante Marina where islanders can walk to a wide variety of businesses, restaurants and medical/dental clinics. Daytrippers headed to the San Juans can park at the marina for free, unlike at the state ferry Anacortes terminal. The Sea Lion vessel is certified for 49 passengers, but Goodremont said it will be limited to 35 riders for the time being so that everyone has access to the heated, indoor seating if desired. Orcas Island resident Sooz Stahl was pleased to hear about the new county-run ferry as she waited in the sun for the state ferry to take her to her job running the post office on neighboring Shaw Island. 'I think it's fantastic,' Stahl said. 'They should support ways and plans for people to get here and to visit the islands without a car.' Stahl said she was unsure whether she would use the walk-on ferry during its 10-week tryout. The county-provided service skips Shaw Island because the isle lacks a public dock suitable for the passenger-only ferry. A potential drawback of the foot ferry for visitors is that there is no public transit or Uber/Lyft on the islands. Friday Harbor is quite walkable, but Orcas Landing and the Lopez dropoff at Odlin County Park are a good distance from the main attractions of their respective islands. Traditional taxis are available on San Juan and Orcas islands, though. Bikes can be brought on board the passenger boat with prior reservation. For travelers going between Friday Harbor and the mainland, the walk-on ferry takes longer than Washington State Ferries because of the intermediate stops. In years past, Bellingham was proposed as the mainland terminus for a San Juan Islands passenger-only ferry run. But San Juan County officials only considered Anacortes as the mainland landing this time around because the point of the state funding was to backstop the state ferry service. The temporary passenger-only ferry is fare-free because the state is footing the bill. Former Gov. Jay Inslee awarded the county $1.5 million in discretionary emergency relief funds last September after hearing a litany of complaints from islanders about missed appointments, stranded schoolchildren and other disruptions caused by cancelled state ferry sailings. Just recently, the state Department of Commerce denied the county's request to spend leftover grant funds after the state's fiscal year ends on June 30 so this walk-on ferry service could be extended into peak tourist season in July. Passengers who use the free foot ferry will be surveyed to provide the county with data that it can then use to make the case for a permanent service, if that seems justified. An ongoing passenger-only run would require a big subsidy if the fares were to be kept reasonable. McVeigh said San Juan County does not currently have the deep pockets to shoulder those operating costs. San Juan Safaris' contract to operate the grant-funded temporary foot ferry costs $7,647.50 per day, which adds up quickly to more than half a million dollars for the ten-and-a-half week duration of the pilot project. Earlier this year at the Legislature, San Juan County council members testified in support of a bill dubbed the Mosquito Fleet Act to launch new, locally operated walk-on ferry routes across Puget Sound. But that proposal was stripped of funding last month and then died in the state Senate at the beginning of April. Senate Transportation Committee Chair Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, said the state government is not in a position to subsidize new ferry services in the near to medium term. 'The (2025-27) budget is really focused on making sure that our mainstay Washington State Ferries service is healthy, strong and sustainable,' Liias said in late March. 'We want to make sure that the service we're providing is top notch again and we're investing to get there. Passenger service in the future makes sense, but for now we're focused on the core of WSF service.' Absent further state support, another option would be federal grant funding. But McVeigh observed the chances of getting that look grim given the current budget-slashing tenor in the nation's capital. A third option would be to turn to local voters for approval to create a county transit district with taxing authority, as Kitsap County did previously. However, McVeigh said it is very premature to go down that path. 'We're not there yet,' McVeigh said. 'This is really just proof-of-concept, this pilot. We want to look at the data. We want to see how our constituents feel about this.' For now, the council chair from Friday Harbor said people should try out the limited-term passenger service and let the county know what they think. It's use it or lose it time, to paraphrase her. 'It's a free ferry ride for now,' McVeigh said. 'Come, come, come.' What: Anacortes-San Juan Islands passenger-only ferry service When: Limited-duration from April 18 to June 30, 2025 Cost: Free to ride. Foot passengers save $16.50 each using the county-run ferry to get to the San Juans instead of Washington State Ferries. Mainland terminus: Cap Sante Marina 'B' Dock, downtown Anacortes Island stops: Lopez (Odlin County Park dock), Orcas Landing, Friday Harbor (Spring St. Dock) Schedule: One morning round trip starting in Friday Harbor and similarly, one afternoon round trip, seven days per week For more info and to make reservations, which are strongly recommended: The Salish Current is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, online local news organization serving Whatcom, San Juan and Skagit counties. Based in Bellingham, the publication serves 400,000 residents and tens of thousands of annual visitors to the three-county area.
